Black BC: A History of the Black Experience at Boston College
A project by Black BC: A History of the Black Experience at Boston CollegeBlack BC Walking Tour is an interactive tour that allows online and mobile users to discover and explore black BC’s complex history on campus, in Boston, and in the nation. It mines anecdotal and informal resources as well as BC archives to commemorate the presence and contributions of black BC, and to document how this community participates in Boston’s black communities. The site is also a resource for BC students, faculty, staff, alums, and scholars who conduct research on race.
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Random Stories
Burns Library - The Robert Morris Collection – "From humble origins to the country's second African American lawyer"
Robert Morris rose from humble origins in Salem, Massachusetts to become a civil rights leader in Boston and the country’s second African American lawyer. He advocated for integrated schools, militias, and public spaces, and supported equal rights…
Roberts Center (1958-1988) –
7 April 1967 – BC students may yet become conditioned to having concerts cancelled after being assured that all the contracts had been duly signed. This familiar sequence was reenacted last week when the much publicized James Brown concert fell…
Thea Bowman Center –
23 October 1989 - AHANA House is renamed to Thea Bowman Center. During the dedication ceremony, Bowman calls on AHANA students to teach the BC community to include AHANA in the first stage of plans, not just the final stage, and challenges the white…
Hardy and Vouté Halls – February 1995
27 February 1995 - Flyers for a black professor’s lecture and a wall are defaced with racial slurs in Hardy and Vouté Hall. In a similar incident, an article written by a black graduate about her experiences at BC is covered with racial slurs and…
Gasson Hall –
19 March 1970: Students Occupy Gasson
At 6:30am on 19 March 1970, black students occupy Gasson Hall in an effort to dramatize the problems of black students at Boston College. Their main concern was the possible dropping of financial aid of [some…
Botolph House –
February 21, 1995 -Chris Stephen, a candidate for UGBC president, is challenged at a debate over his slogan, “Bringing UGBC Back to You.” “No matter how you justify the slogan, it insinuates that they are bringing UGBC back to you … and that it…